Madagascar's independence jubilee

A Nation's Holiday in Times of Crisis

Bibliographic Data

ID6307047
AuthorsMareike Späth (Department of Anthropology and African Studies Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Germany, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume19
Issue2
Pages257-275
Publication date2013-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNations and Nationalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1345-5078 • E-ISSN: 1469-8129
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/nana.12019
OpenAlexW1599289252
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited8

The fiftieth anniversary of Madagascar's independence in 2010 took place in the midst of political crisis. The transitory government staged large public parties to mark the Jubilee. Despite a public discussion about legitimacy and justification of this fact, the national holiday was lavishly celebrated. In Madagascar, Independence Day is also an important family event and emphasis was put on private celebrations including family feasts and reunions. As a result, it enhanced the participants' emotional attachment to their personal and local face‐to‐face milieu. This article asks how the golden jubilee was celebrated against a backdrop of political illegitimacy. I contrast official state‐led initiatives and individual agency in the private sphere and discuss how the national holiday has been appropriated and reinterpreted by the population as a family and community holiday. This article is based on qualitative ethnographical fieldwork in Antananarivo before, during and after the peak of the independence jubilee

Agency (philosophy · Economic history · Face (sociological concept · Government (linguistics · Independence (probability theory · Legitimacy · Media studies · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Population · Public sphere · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Demography · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Law

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